18 and Life
by Luvergirl of Books
Summary: There are bad people out there. Really bad. And there are some people, sometimes that we know and love, that bad things happen to. We have to be ready, but most of the time, our defenses are woefully inadequate. Then you're young, and in for life.


**A/N:** This is what happens when I listen to Monster Ballads, guys. My minds starts rolling. I personally like this one, but I'll let y'all be the judges of that.

This is a songfic for _18 and Life_ by Skid Row

* * *

"There's a letter addressed to you," Halt said, holding out said letter. "It's from Martinsyde fief."

Will looked incredulous. "Martinsyde? What would anybody there want me for?"

Halt simply shrugged at his 18-year-old apprentice. "I wouldn't know. It's a felony to open someone else's mail, you know."

Taking the letter and breaking the seal, Will smiled to himself. Like that law had ever stopped Halt. As if.

_Ricky was a young boy_

_He had a heart of stone_

"The baron of Martinsyde wants me to meet him in three days," Will said, frowning.

"What's the meeting about?"

"I don't know. He says that the information 'will be disclosed on site.'"

Halt shrugged. "Well, you're a big boy. You can go on your own. I can hardly just up and leave Redmont for a week."

_Lived 9 to 5 and_

_He worked his fingers to the bone._

Will knocked gingerly on the great oak door of Baron Rubis's chambers. The boy's longbow was slung across his back, his arrows hanging ever present from his quiver at his right shoulder. The secretary had said that he could keep his weapons on him. He thought that Martinsyde was considerably slack, but complied gratefully.

"Come in, come in," bellowed a cheerful voice from inside the room. As Will slipped inside the room, Baron Rubis smiled enormously at him. "Please, have a drink with me, we will get to this meeting!"

Nodding appreciatively, the apprentice allowed an amount of water to be poured into a glass, which he accepted. The baron did the same, and they sat for a moment, just sipping. Will sighed gratefully as the cool ice met his lips.

_Just barely out of school_

_Came from the edge of town_

"So," the baron said after a moment, "I was planning on starting a Ward. I hear you grew up in one at Redmont, and I figured that you would be one to speak to about this.

Will attempted to squint away an instantaneous buzz in the back of his head. As Baron Rubis's words registered, then passed through that deep drone that had entered his mind not permitted, he felt decidedly angry. Who was this man to know his past? What gave this pompous loaf of fabric the right to know where he had spent the first 15 years of his childhood?

"Is this all we were going to speak about?" Will asked hotly, speaking through gritted teeth. "I don't feel very comfortable."

_Fought like a switchblade_

_So no one could take him down, no_

"It'll be fine," Baron Rubis said in what Will felt was a _very _uncaring tone. The youth fought back an odd urge to bunch his fists.

"Now," the baron continued, "I'll have this set up for children whose parents have passed on, and who have no other family to take care of them."

Will, shockingly, was quickly growing tired of the man's manner. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he was being _much_ to soon to anger, and that something must be off somehow. And the buzz was still there. This thought was quickly pushed aside by an immense hatred for the man before him.

_He had no money_

_No, no good at home_

_He walked the streets a soldier_

_And he fought the world alone_

_And now it's_

The baron was still speaking. "Of course, these children will have no money, so I'll have to provide from my own purse…"

At this, Will stood, knocking his chair over backwards in the action. "What is wrong with you?" he screeched. "Why should it matter that you have to spend your own money for the good of your people? You have no right to speak about orphans in that fashion, or, in doing so, to me!"

Baron Rubis held up his hands in a placating gesture. "No need to be enraged, young Will."

But, to Will, the baron's movements seemed just a touch too smug for his liking. "No!" he yelled. "I _do _have a need for it!"

"Now, Will…"

But the baron got no further. In one fluid movement, Will had unsheathed his knife, thrust his arm back. In seconds, the steel blade was flying through the short distance, and in milliseconds, was buried in Rubis's chest.

The last thought that Will had as the man dropped to the floor and the room became a frenzy of guards, was, _What's making me so furious so quickly?_

_18 and life, you got it_

_18 and life you know_

The door to the dungeon slammed shut, clanging in a sound that Will knew to be imprisonment.

_Your crime is time, and it's_

_18 and life to go_

Halt had had to make the trip out to Martinsyde, seeing that Will was indeed imprisoned. There was nothing the Ranger could do. Will had been rash, and murdered a man; a baron no less.

As he was visiting his young apprentice in the dungeon for a few brief moments, he had voiced his thoughts.

"Will, I don't know what got into you."

"But Halt, I—"

Sighing mournfully, the Ranger held a hand up for silence. "But nothing, son. I don't know what got into you, but I do know that there's nothing I can do about it. I can't protect you; I can't get you out of your problems this time."

_18 and life, you got it_

_18 and life you know_

_Your crime is time, and it's_

_18 and life to go_

"Halt, I don't know what happened. This isn't right!"

"I agree, Will. I agree. _You_ weren't right."

"No, Halt, that's not what I mean!" Will said desperately. "You know me! I don't get that angry that easy. Something was off!"

_Tequila in his heartbeat_

_His veins burned gasoline_

_It kept his motor running_

_But it never kept him clean._

But the guard was already leading Halt away.

_They say he loved adventure_

_"Ricky's the wild one"_

_He married trouble_

_Had a courtship with a gun._

Will knew that something wasn't right. Someone had to be conspiring against him. But when would anyone have had a chance? He racked his brains for some sort of answer.

_BANG BANG, shoot 'em up_

_The party never ends_

He couldn't think of any time that someone could have sabotaged him. He hadn't eaten anything since he made it to town. He had just drank the water in the baron's quarters…

_You can't think of dying_

_When the bottle's your best friend_

_And now it's_

That had to be it! Will jumped to his feet, but the shackles on his hands and feet held him fast, and he was unable to walk far. The water had been drugged! But Rubis had drank the same water… The drug must have already been in his glass! The ice must have been masking any odd taste.

_18 and life, you got it_

_18 and life you know_

_Your crime is time, and it's_

_18 and life to go_

"Will?" a tentative voice said into the darkness of the dungeon.

Will beamed. "Horace, am I glad to hear your voice!"

Will heard his friend shuffle his feet awkwardly. "I wanted to see you one last time, before…well, you know. The block."

The smile faded as though it had never been. "Oh. But, Horace, it's all okay now, because I know what made me kill him!"

Though Will couldn't see it, Horace squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth in a pained grimace. "I've heard the story, Will," he said, his voice dripping with anguish. "I don't want to hear it again from you. Please, spare me that." And with that, the knight walked brusquely from the dungeon room, leaving the accompanying guard in his wake.

_18 and life, you got it_

_18 and life you know_

_Your crime is time, and it's_

_18 and life to go_

Will heard the guard turn to leave also, heard the unmistakable mumble of "I'll leave you to your last moments."

"Guard, wait! Let me explain my position!" Will cried out in desperation.

But the sentry continued to stride away.

_"Accidents will happen"_

_They all heard Ricky say_

_He fired his six-shot to the wind_

_That shot blew a child away._

_18 and life, you got it_

_18 and life you know_

_Your crime is time, and it's_

_18 and life to go_

"No! No, you don't understand! It was the water, it was drugged to make me act—"

But the door clanged shut, and any chance Will had of pleading his case, of enlightening others of his revelation, had been doused. It was like thrusting a bucket of water on a small, flickering flame.

_18 and life, you got it_

_18 and life you know_

_Your crime is time, and it's_

_18 and life to go._

And from the study, the actual Baron Rubis grinned evilly, and his impersonator turned in his grave.

_Finis_

**A/N: **holy crap, I scare myself sometimes! …Epical creepiness! I don't know what HIS problem was.


End file.
